With many treatment regimens, it is recommended to take different unit doses at different times of day and/or on certain days. These dosages may require administration at different times of the day or under different conditions, for example, on an empty stomach versus a full stomach. In addition, when the unit dose is to be administered certain times of the day, remembering which time the unit dose is to be taken can be confusing to the user. Compliance with these types of programs is therefore an issue.
Many types of packages and kits have been developed for dispensing unit doses. Such kits include those designed to dispense active ingredients on a continuous daily frequency. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,728, to Allendorf et al., issued Nov. 30, 1993; EP Pub. 0 511726 A2, to Berlex Laboratories, Inc., published Nov. 4, 1992; PCT Pub. WO 99/51214, to Akzo Nobel, published Oct. 14, 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,736, to Urheim, issued Sep. 25, 1990, which describe dispensers for administering various pharmaceuticals, including oral contraceptives, on a continuous daily basis, including regimens wherein the active ingredient is administered daily for about 21 days followed by placebo administration for about seven days. Other kits and dispensers have been developed that are designed for administering multiple doses of the same active ingredient per day, or for the concurrent or nonconcurrent administration of two or more active agents. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,222, to Friberg et al., issued Feb. 15, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,997, to Friberg et al., issued Apr. 24, 2001; U.S. Pat. Pub. 2003/0168376 A1, Taneja et al. published Sep. 11, 2003; U.S. Pat. Pub. 2003/0111479, Taneja et al., published Jun. 19, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,956, to Hermelin et al., issued Apr. 23, 2002; PCT Pub. WO 88/02342, Astra Lakemedel Aktiebolag, published Apr. 7, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,567, to Knudsen, issued Oct. 20, 1981; DE 29719 070, to Byk Gulden Lomberg Chemische Fabrik, published Jun. 25, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,976, to Weinstein, issued Dec. 15, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,796, to Weinstein, issued Aug. 7, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,945, to Weinstein et al., issued May 20, 2003; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,974, to D'Amico et al., issued Aug. 4, 1998. A kit has also been disclosed for the administration of an active ingredient on a once weekly basis. See U.S. Pub. 2001/0044427, Mazel et al., published Nov. 22, 2001.